The University of Sydney deal with protestors: the community responds

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Six organisations have penned a Joint Statement on the University of Sydney’s agreement with pro-Palestine protestors.

In one voice, The New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, The Executive Council of Australian Jewry, AUJS, the Zionist Federation of Australia, The Australian Academic Alliance Against Antisemitism and AIJAC have issued the following statement:

“We are appalled and deeply concerned by the agreement that was reached on June 21 by the University of Sydney and representatives of protesters who had camped on the University’s grounds for the previous eight weeks. Many of the protesters were from outside the University, yet they were allowed to menace the University community and disturb campus life without challenge. They have now been rewarded for doing so.

The University entered into an agreement with a group acting in concert with the extremist Hizb ut-Tahrir organisation to participate in a working group to review the University’s investments and defence and security-related research activities.  No other University in Australia has gone this far.

The University of Sydney agreement has been widely and rightly condemned as a capitulation by the University and celebrated by extremists.  A group working in concert with Hizb ut-Tahrir declared last Friday that “[Our] resilience has worked in our favour across many fronts, most particularly being the catalyst for the negotiations with the Uni.”

This agreement can only act as an incentive for further and more extreme disruption at the University in the future.

Leading national security experts, including Peter Jennings and Dennis Richardson, have rightly raised serious questions about the University’s capacity to conduct sensitive national security research in light of this agreement. Others have questioned the appropriateness of continued federal funding to the University of Sydney.

Based on our interactions to date, we have lost confidence in the capacity of the University to provide for the physical, cultural and psycho-social safety of Jewish students and staff members.  This is not just our view.  We have been made aware that several academic staff, some of them leaders in their fields and employees of long standing, have already notified the University of their decision to leave the institution. We have also been informed that a number of Jewish students are now considering shifting to other Universities.

We have also rejected the University’s offer, extended to us after an agreement had been reached behind our backs, to participate in the proposed process to review the University’s investment and research activities. The process is in our view a sham and we will have nothing to do with it.  We encourage all individuals and groups of standing likewise not to engage with or lend credibility to such a fundamentally flawed process.

We continue to explore all options to ensure the safety and well-being of students and staff at the University of Sydney and stand ready to provide support and assistance to Jewish students and staff at the University, as well as those who now wish to leave the University.”

The proposal made the University of Sydney commits to:  

·       disclosing our defence- and security-related research activities including research contracts and research grants, subject to contractual, legal and privacy obligations. 

·       disclosing our investments in defence- and security-related industries.  

·       doubling our expenditure over the next three years to support academics and PhD students under the Scholars-at-Risk Program. 

·       committing to fostering a greater understanding of racism and to building respect for ethnic and cultural difference in the wider community.  

·       We will convene a working group to undertake a review of the position of defence- and security-related industries in our Investment Policy and our Integrated ESG Framework.